So I came back to the game after an extended break to find that I don't really have any useful/desirable jobs. NIN has totally failed to keep up with other jobs' buffs, PLD is now lacklustre outside of high-endgame which I don't do any more, and BST/PUP were always lol'd. I'd like a job that people don't go 'oh... don't you have anything else?' to >_>;

I feel I should probably level a pure DD job, and I'd like to know what the pros/cons are for WAR vs. say, DRK/RNG/MNK these days. I'd probably be looking at using this job for exp/merits/abyssea, pickup events like assault/nyzul/mission fights, maybe some dyna/limbus, maybe some lowman NMs and stuff. WAR shares more gear with my current jobs, though I have H2H merits already from PUP that MNK could make use of. Something that's useful without ridiculous gear would be good - I have gil reserves, but would find it hard to fight higher tier ZNMs/VNMs or HNMs.

Or I guess I could go the other way and level SCH/BLM - would a magic DD be more useful for these sorts of situations? Should I just suck up the stigma and make my own groups for stuff rather than level a whole new job?

WAR is a great all-around job, and certainly welcome enough in most activities...but it's still a melee DD. How often do you see people shouting for just one more melee, compared to buffers or healers? It might be better than your current jobs, but if popularity is what you seek, then there are better routes.

What happened to your RDM? That'd be a pretty viable, in-demand job. SCH or BLM...are situational, though popular enough for actual endgame stuff. BRD or COR obviously. MNK is a brutal DD in a lot of situations, albeit under-appreciated by many except for in Salvage.

If what you really want is a DD though, it's hard to go wrong with WAR. It might not be the absolute best in every situation, but it's the most flexible DD in the game, and can set up to be effective on most anything physical DD is viable on.

Kitty pants are one of those items that I just never ended up getting, though I could buy them from a merc LS (although, whether anyone still mercs sky, I have no idea). Would that make a difference for WAR vs MNK, or just between those vs others?

I could revive my RDM, it still has a lot of r/ex gear. I burned myself out on it badly, but that was years ago now, so perhaps I could enjoy it again. The thinking behind BLM or SCH was that I've got a whole bunch of jobs that are all-rounders/hybrids. I'd like a job that is undeniably good at something, and I think I would like to deal good damage for once.

Perhaps I'll level a few subs a bit further, to see whether I particularly enjoy one of them more than others, or whether I prefer dealing magic or physical damage.

Kitty pants are one of those items that I just never ended up getting, though I could buy them from a merc LS (although, whether anyone still mercs sky, I have no idea). Would that make a difference for WAR vs MNK, or just between those vs others?

Well, yeah. WAR gets Perle, which (as a full set) trades in 1% Haste from the conventional TP sets for a host of other goodies. MNK's stuck with cat pants and can never be WAR, for Aurore is not Perle.

That, and MNK is very, very focused on beating the ever-living crap out of things... and not doing a lot else. WAR offers greater adaptability in my estimation (and Isiolia's).

Perle is a very (*very*) good set, but it isnt end-all be all. But the thing is: to move away from perle and onto better stuff you will need kitty pants.

Problem is: the other stuff you are going to need to be better than perle are quite hard to get. Essentialy, you need kitty and one of these:

Adaberk Nocturnus Dusk +1s Speed belt

I'm not going to dispute that, but that's pretty hardcore gear all the same, and my point was that Perle beats the conventional Turban/Catpants/Dusk hands+feet that seems to have been standard prior to Perle.

That, and MNK is very, very focused on beating the ever-living crap out of things... and not doing a lot else.

Bzzzzzt, Monk can tank anything NIN can with the right support.

Everything else Luci said is correct though.

Bzzzzzt, NIN appears to be falling out of favour so your logic needs work.

Everything else Nila said is correct though.

Clarifier: "with the right support" basically means "support you should be getting anyway, plus a little bit extra, while the MNK continues to beat the ever-living crap out of things, only a little bit harder"

in respect to versatility, mnk would be on par or greater than war. I would say mnk>war as a tank and in zerg style play. For exp/merits just do abyssea and then u don't have to worry about it. For nyzul/assaults missions war or mnk prolly wouldn't make a dif, same w/ dyna. But for lowman nm's I'd take a mnk over a war almost everytime.

The reason I would pick war over mnk is the ease at which you could get gear. You could pick up 5/5perle for 150k but kitty pants, usukane/fuma/poise/denali feet, ochi/usukane/aurore hands, usukane/cobra/shura body are all much more expensive than the whole perle set. Swift belt is now incredibly easy to obtain while brown/black will cost u a good bit more. Everything else is pretty similar in difficulty to obtain. Although thew is more expensive than fire bomblet atm.

But for the events that you mentioned, as long as ur a skillfull player, any job that has an incling of ability to tank will do just fine.

I also just finished blm to 80 and blm/rdm w/ convert is teh *** and u don't even have to solo 70-80. If u have nice friends u could go 30-80 in abyssea/absurdia :) sch is prolly better for everything else u wanna do since it can double as whm.

I've noticed that in many situations warrior is not the absolute best physical DD, but there are no situations where warrior sucks (as long as you can use physical DD).

Warrior is just a **** solid job. The ja's it does use last a long time and have long recasts and the rest are job traits. It doesn't use magic (save /nin utsu). This gives you a certain stability against amnesia and silence; debuffs that can cripple other DDs.

People like having a back up provoke, even in abyssea. I've wound up tanking (well, as much as you do tank in abyssea) while the pld was weakened. I've also back up tanked in Dynamis. It just falls to the warrior. If you get a party using SATA you can be the trick partner. If the puller bails you put on the combat caster's boomerang +1 and you're the puller.

The only real downside, in my opinion, is that it is a fairly simple job to play. I use maybe 7 macros for each different sj. I've had times when I've gone 30-40 seconds without pushing a button. Oh, and warrior can't solo for crap unless you are /dnc with a multihit weapon (I use Kindred Axe). At least, I've never been able to get it to solo without /dnc + multihit.

I have 80War 80Sam 80Drg and 75Mnk for melee DD's. My suggestion to you would be to level up Dragoon. Dragoon is completely centered on melee dps and excells in doing it. War and Sam also do great dps and would be good choices. But if your looking for pure destructive power and easy party invites Drg does very well.

The best part of Warrior is that it can't be indirectly nerfed like every other DD job. Nerf two handed weapons? Rampage. Nerf one handed? Raging Rush. Enhance one, pick the opposite best fit. ****, take it one step further: There is that one Limbus zone where mobs are weak to one type of damage and strong to another, and Warrior can slaughter pretty much all of them.

God I used to love that zone just to **** off the Monks and Samurais.

Edited, Aug 31st 2010 1:29pm by lolgaxe

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I have 80War 80Sam 80Drg and 75Mnk for melee DD's. My suggestion to you would be to level up Dragoon. Dragoon is completely centered on melee dps and excells in doing it. War and Sam also do great dps and would be good choices. But if your looking for pure destructive power and easy party invites Drg does very well.

Speaking as a fellow DRG, I'd disagree so much -- it's a merit monkey that's good at traditional endgame, but in anything that doesn't let you get up close and personal with a given mob, it seriously sucks ****. Don't go there.

As a lvl 80 War Blu Drg Mnk Cor Bst I can say that they all have situations where they stand out. I prefer Mnk over all when its a long Fight and other areas of the fight are covered (healing,enfeeble,buff,support,ect.) I prefer blu as DD when I'm not sure what I'm facing and could be in a long fight cause blu imo is best overall DD. Its weak to nothing and can support,enfeeble,buff, take care of myself. Drg when I want to survive better if I take hate (lack of a tank).

But War is straight up Killer. If mobs go down fast I prefer War. Beacuse after a ws I pretty much tank. In dynamis at lvl 75 all zones besides xcard and CoP zones my war executes 1.5k-1.9k ws's. Now @ lvl 80 i'm doing 1.7k-2.5k. Other events where mobs go down fast its great like Abyssea where I average 1.5-2k+.

But the abilty to take dmg, tank, destroy is great. I don't take war to NM fights or VNM, Sky ect. So I can't speak on that. Usually its blu or bst. But war is a very fun job if you like to mix it up and still be effective with diff weapons and diff WS's!!

At least, I've never been able to get it to solo without /dnc + multihit.

I solo'd my club skill all the way to cap before the level cap raise. Horrent Mace + Koenig shield, /dnc, vs steelshells. Capped my shield skill on war while I was at it. I swear, when I got them, I never thought I'd love the my AF hands as much as I do